6 trending colors to use in 2019

Colors help shape everything from our mood to the products we buy. With each new year comes a new color trend, and whether you’re a digital marketer, or a graphic designer, knowing these trends in advance is helpful for all your design tasks. In this article, we predict the biggest color trends of 2019, and show you how to use them in design.

Similar to fashion trends, there are also design trends that come and go with each new year. While there are timeless design principles that many design experts follow, using trending colors in your designs allows them to feel contemporary.

This year, we’re predicting that the trending colors will be bold and bright. While last year we saw a nod to flat and muted colors, this year we are seeing futuristic designs, with dreamlike interfaces, and vivid colors.

Below are six color trends we predict will be popular in the design world for 2019. And we share our top tips on how you can use them in your designs.

01. Coral

Each year Pantone’s Color of the Year inspires thousands of designs across the globe. This year, Pantone has chosen Living Coral. In 2018, the Color of the Year was Ultra Violet, and we saw the color adopted in fashion, graphic design and branding.

Louder than pink and softer than red, this color is a recognition of the coral reefs around the world that are facing extinction.

Pantone's homepage

As our lives move more into the fast lane, many of us are looking for a sense of calm amongst it all. “Color is an equalizing lens through which we experience our natural and digital realities and this is particularly true for Living Coral,” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute told Forbes. Leatrice adds that “with consumers craving human interaction and social connection, the humanizing and heartening qualities displayed by the convivial Pantone Living Coral hit a responsive chord.”

Source: Quartz

Powerhouses like Apple are already adopting the color trend that fuses together nature and technology to their iPhone design. That’s one way you can be sure that there’s a long successful road ahead for Living Coral.

A dynamic and vibrant color, coral is particularly stunning when combined with the right hues—navy blue, taupes, and grays. Try our Color Wiki to see what works best with this year's Color of the Year.

02. Vivid colors

“In today’s world where first impressions are formed in a split second, color can help a designer capture a user’s attention and communicate a message. And this year, they’re attracting attention with vivid compositions and bright colors,” explains New Jersey-based digital design and marketing agency, CMDS.

Design by Mohamed Samir

It’s time to step away from playing it safe with muted colors in your designs. In 2019, we’ll be seeing more vivid, brighter colors reign supreme.

Earlier this year, Apple announced their new iPad Pro. But unlike previous events, their usual invitations were replaced with something unique. The in-house designers created bespoke versions of their logo which they then used to send out individually styled invitations.

Source: The Verge

In the designs above we see vivid colors like electric yellows, blues, and reds—the kinds of colors that we suspect are going to have some attention in the spotlight this year.

Spotify has always been an early adopter of design trends. For example, they adopted gradients and flat designs early on in 2017 with designs such as the one below.

App design by Spotify

Now we’re seeing Spotify incorporate vivid colors in their marketing campaigns. Below is an example of their ‘2018 goals’ campaign.

Vivid colors can also offer your designs a futuristic feel and will have your audiences feeling that your brand is modern and fresh.

Funemployed’s site illustration combines both flat and vivid colors in their homepage illustration.

Design tip:Carrie Cousins from Design Shack suggests that while it’s great to use vivid colors in your designs, it’s also important to “place an emphasis on contrast between background and foreground elements to ensure that each element is easy to see and read.”

03. Pink

As we’ve mentioned, 2019 is going to be all about grabbing your audience’s attention and provoking an emotion. What better way to do this than with a hint of pink? Mila Jones Cann from creative platform 99designs claims that pink is "the most ubiquitous and versatile color of the decade."

In 2016, Pantone named Rose Quartz and Serenity as their colors of the year, and since, it seems that no one can get enough of the pink hue.

Pantone’s Colors of the Year 2016

Transcending traditional gender connotations, pink is proving to be a versatile color in the design world—found everywhere from marketing materials to iPhones.

Apple iPhone 6S

And while ‘millennial pink’ continues to remain on trend, the spectrum of pinks we will be using in 2019 is set to evolve. Think 3D designs with brighter shades and pink gradients. Not sure how to use pink? Inspire your next design with stunning pink color combinations.

05. Earth tones

With overconsumption and the overuse of social media being placed in the spotlight, there are some designers who are looking to take a more natural approach this year.

“Earth tones are emerging as a top trend,” Sue Wadden, the Director of Color Marketing at Sherwin-Williams explains to Forbes. Sue predicts that we will be seeing an authentic appreciation for earthy tones such as taupes, leafy greens, ocean blues, and oats in designs over the upcoming year.

Design by Nina Bell

If you are looking to bridge the gap between nature and design, you’ll find these relaxed colors perfect for your designs.

06. Gold

Gold has long been a staple color in design, but, thanks to improvements in technology—both on screen and in print—it’s never been a better time to use gold in your designs.

Design by Cait Goodman

Adding accents of gold in your designs will give them a sense of luxury and opulence.
A brighter gold will catch your audience’s eye, while a darker gold will lend richness and warmth to your designs. You can also try adding a golden touch to a nature-inspired palette of orange, green, brown, or even Living Coral for added effect.

Design by Bravo

In line with the other bold trends we’re going to see in 2019—and a shift away from 2018’s trend of flat designs—the use of metallic colors and elements will help you strengthen your designs and typography in the year ahead.